Apparatus for treating oil



March 6, 1928. 1,661,804

F. A. KORMANN APPARATUS FOR TREAT ING OIL Filed Feb. 14 1 21 4 Sheets-Sheet '1 J w W%-% March 6, 1928. 1,661,804

F. A. KORMANN APPARATUS FOR TREATING OIL Filed Feb; 14. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I 7, Jr

March 6, 1928, 1,661,804

F. A. KORMANN APPARATUS FOR TREATING OIL Filed Feb. 14' 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March fi, 1928. 1,661,804

F. A. KORMANN APPARATUS FOR TREATING 011.

Filed Feb. 14. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 a d w/ Patented Mar. 6, 1928. A

UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. KOBMANN, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED BEFINEBIES COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING OIL.

Application filed February 14, 1921. Serial No, 444,745

The present invention relates to means for treating heavy oils for the production of oils of lighter gravity or lower boillng point, the primary end sought to be accomphshed a in the development of the invention being the production fromheavy oils of a greater yield of a desirable product within those ranges of gravity or boiling points recog nized as the limits for fuel for internalcom- I bustion engines, although the possibillty is recognized of utilizing the invention 1n the production of other grades running, on the one hand, into the aromatic series or, on the other hand, into the lower gravity grades known generally as kerosene, etc," Thee-invention has for its object not only the 1pm duction of an increased yield of proiii 'ct within the desired range of gravity or boiling points, but also to reduce losses due to the formation of fixed gases, and residua of the character of carbon or coke. More specifically, the object of the invention is to produce an increased yield of fuel for internal combustion engines, commonly designated as gasoline, from crude or heavy gravity mineral oils.

One embodiment of my improved apparatus is illustwted in the accompanying drawin s, in which:

in section, of a still for carrying the invention into practice Fig. 2 is a similar view in front sectional elevation, but omitting some of the pipes and manifolds;

Fig. 3 is an end view of my improved still, portions lthereof being broken away for the purpose of better illustration, and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, except that certain pipe connections of Fig. 3 have been omitted.

The structure illustrated embodies primarily a still A, the shell of which is of conventional cylindrical form mounted in a setting having furnace characteristics, to be presently described. From the vapor dome B of the still shell, a pipe 6 leads off to a condenser of conventional type indicated at C and the product from the condenser is led to a receiver 1). Oil to be treated is supplied to the still through a supply pipe E leadin from a pump house F and supply tank All of the parts so far indicated, it will be understood, may be of conventional form *ig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation, partly at present employed in standard oil distillation plants and may embod the refinements customary in the art, as or example, the usual tail house equipment, large capacity storage and supply tanks, steam boilers, separators, etc., but which it is not necessary to illustrate in the drawings.

In carrying the present invention into practice, provision is made for maintaining the body of oil being treated in a filamentary form while being subjected to the action of heat and, therefore, the apparatus embodies a steam supply and a highly absorbent material preferably in the form of rectangular bricks H conveniently and preferably bricks which before burning have had ground cork incorporated in the clay mixture and commonly known to the art as .nonpareil brick. These bricks, which have a comparatively large coefficient of expansion, are located in the body of the still in position to be submerged or substantially submerged in the body of oil when the still is fully charged. In the preferred construction, a metal supporting frame I of angle iron is placed in the lower part of the still, leaving a space below the same for the location of pipes to be presently referred to, and for the accommodation of a body of oil to facilitate charging and drainage. as well as to prevent injury to the still shell, or excessive heating in-that part of the shell to which direct heat may be applied. On this supporting frame. the highly absorbent bricks H are placed. usually so as to break joints in the successive layers and the still is filled with such brick to a point which is preferably slightly below the liquid level when the still is fully charged with oil.

The still is mounted on a furnace setting usually embodying direct and inverted bridge or baflle walls K, K, K, and the front end of the furnace setting embodies a combustion chamber having an oil burner M for example, a checker wall M, a bridge wall M and steam superheaters N and N. Each superheater consists of a coil set at an angle (45, for example) across the path of the products passing through the combustion chamber so as to be subjected to the most intense heat, and, as a convenience of construction, the upper part of each coil rests against a transverse pipe n, 'n, respectively, connected with one end of the coil and forming parts of the steam ducts.

Steam is supplied to the superheater N through a pipe N from any desired source and from this superheater a pipe 0 leads to a coil 0 in the bottom of the still. This coil is preferably arranged in arallel branches, as shown in Fig. 2, and t e discharge from both branches'unite in a pipe 0 leading to the superheater support n, the latter being in communication with one end of the superheater coil N. From the 0pposite end of the latter coil the steam may be exhausted to atmosphere through branch P or conducted to the still through branch P. Branch pipe P is again divided, one branch P leading to a subdivided discharge in the bottom of the still below the absorbent brick and the other branch P leading to a subdivided discharge within the body of absorbent brick. The steam is discharged in subdivided form and to effect this result each branch P, P leads to a header 11 p and from each header a plurality of smaller pipes 12, 72* extend longitudinally of the still and are provided with relatively smallperforations for the discharge of the steam in a highly subdivided form throughout the lengti of the still and in position to be distributed with great uniformity throughout the body of oil undergoing treatment. A test or sample pipe Q, havin a series of pet cocks q therein is connected at one end to the lower part and at the opposite end with the upper part of the still, the latter connection being above the oil level. I

In addition to the residua drain pipe R, the still has an air valve S and manholes S at the top, and all pipe connections are provided with valves whereby any branch or main may be shut off to control the flow and route followed by the steam and oil.

Preliminary to the admission of oil to be treated, the still is brought to a uniformly high temperature which is preferabl about 550-600 F. This preliminary lieating may be conveniently effected by passing steam through the heatin coil 0 to atmosphere. When the large ulk of absorbent rick has been brought up to the desired temperature, oil is charged in through the supply pipe and in quantity sufiicient to saturate the absorbent brick and preferably to submerge the same and fill the passages and interstices between the brick. In this con- .nection, it may be noted that the brick are of ordinary size, and, in the type of still illustrated, many thousand brick are employed, thus providing not only numerous tortuous passa es of small cross section between the bric s, but an exceedingly large superficial area and a capillary capacity for su dividing the oil into filamenta form which is more than half of the cubical ca-- pacity of the still itself.

As the level of the crude oil rises above the top of the oil space in the bottom of the still, it is rapidly absorbed by the porous bricks which, as described above, have been heated from a temperature of from 550 to 600 F. This absorption is accompanied by an immediate, and what might be termed an initial, yield of the lighter distillates which is due to the rapid heating of the filamentary particles of crude oil, by contact with the preheated bricks, to a temperature sufficient to accommodate the lower boiling point hydro-carbons present in the crude oil. This disengagement of the lower boiling point bydro-carbons continues during the filling of the still and for a considerable period of time thereafter. During this time superheated steam continues to pass through the heating coils to maintain the temperature of the bricks substantially constant. After the bricks have been subsantially submerged by the crude oil, the flow of superheated steam through the heating coils is continued and the lighter distillates continue to pass over to the condenser.

The large yields of the lighter hydro-carbons produced by the mode of operation described above appear to indicate that in addition to simply removing the lighter hydrocarbons which are merely present in the crude oil, there is a certain alteration of the molecular structure of certain of the higher boiling point fractions which result in an additional yield of the lighter hydro-carbons.

The increase in yield obtained through the use of the apparatus described above is probably not only due to the alteration of the molecular construction of the higher boiling point fractions just referred to, but is also due to the uniform and almost instantaneous heating of the crude oil thruout its entire mass to a temperature sutlicient to accommodate the lower boiling point hydro-carbons, as a consequence of which no portion or particle of the vapors liberated 1n the mass of the crude oil, in passing to the condensers, comes into contact with any stratum or region where the temperature is below the vaporization temperature of the lighter hydro-carbons, in contradistinction to the process as at present in use, in which a goodly percentage of the vapors produced during the initial stage of the heating of the crude oil in passing to the condenser are forced to pass through layers of crude oil or regions where the temperature of the oil is below the vaporization point of the lighter distillates, with a consequent condensation of the vapors. It is a well known fact that where vapors are thus condensed, they sometimes in condensing recombine to form. molecules that can be broken up into the lighter distillates only with great difliculty, or not at all, as a result of which a very material portion of the lighter distillates originally present in the crude oil are lost.

After distillation has commenced, steam is preferably admitted to the still through finely perforated pipes leading from the header 17 This direct admission of steam preferably takes place continuously below the absorbent brick, and, as a result, agitates and heats the oil in the bottom space, the

steam finding its escape up through the absorbent brick, both in the interstices between the brick and by penetration of the bricks themselves.

At times when the surrounding temperature is low or it is desired to distill oil a low gravity and higher boiling point product, the second set of steam supply pipes from the manifold p may, if desired, be brought into action, thus still further heating the oil and absorbent brick.

While it cannot be stated as a fact, it'is believed the increased/yield of low boiling point product is in a large measure at least due to' the retention of the lighter weight hydrogen constituents in the sphere of reaction during the time necessary to complete 'the reaction. In other words, the ab sorbent material holds the products in high 'ly subdivided or filamentary form in such intimate relation-that reaction'takes place. In this respect, the present liquid phase reaction resembles somewhat the known vaporphase craking reactions, although in the liquid phase operation it is not believed that there is any action which can be properly designated as a cracking action, inasmuch as no pressure in the still is necessary and the temperature employed are below those commonly recognized as necessary in a cracking o eration.

When t e condensate coming over has reached a point where the boiling point is above that of the desired product, the residua' is drawn off through the drain pipe R and the operations described are repeated with a new charge of oil. It is found in practice that some condensate continues to come over during the discharge of the residua, and re charging of the still so the operation may be consldered as continuous, although the volume may vary greatly. Under some circumstances it is desirable to shut down or reduce the heat after each operation to prevent air being drawn into the still, with the con uent production of an inflammable or exp osive mixture, the manipulation in this respect, as well as the temperature ranges, being readily deteryield of fuel for internal combustion engines far greater-in quantity than can be obtained by straight distillation or for the treatment of cuts of crude oil, practically all of which may be converted into oil of lower boiling point, in which latter instance there is but little residua and a single operation may be greatlyprolonged by supplying fresh 011 as the contents of the still is vaporized and passes ofi to the condenser and tail house,

vthus making the process a continuous one.

While I have described the details of construction of the preferred embodiment of 'my invention, and the preferred method of operating it, it is to be clearly understood that my invention is not to' be limited to these details of construction except by the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, it' should be clearly understood that the mode of operation described herein is merely illustrative, and that it can be suitably modified to adapt it to the particular characteristic of the crude oil being treated, and can also be modified to vary the percentages of the lighter distillates which it is desired to produce. For instance, by operating at higher temperatures, larger quantitiw of the lighter distillates such as benzene may be expected, whereas with lower temperatures a larger percentage of kerosene and the heavier distillates will result.

This application is a continuation in part of my application, Serial No 294,285, filed May 2, 1919.

,Having thus described my invention, what I claim is new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

A still for convertin high boiling point oil into oil, of lower boiling point, embodying'a still shell, a body of highly absorbent brick held in said shell to leave a vapor dome above and an oil space below the same, means for charging oil into the shell, and steam admission pipes at the bottom and at an intermediate height in the still shell, whereby steam may be charged into the body of absorbent brick at a lurality of levels.

In witness whereof: I hereunto subscribe my name this 2nd day of February, 1921.

FREDERICK A. KORMANN. 

